ABSTRACT
82 consecutive outpatients with Crohn's disease (n = 52) and ulcerative colitis (n = 30) were examined ambulatory. Rheumatic complaints, objective results and diagnosis were correlated to the activity of the underlying illness and the extent of the bowel affected. 61% of the examined patients complaint about rheumatic pains. In two thirds this could be attributed to noninflammatory causes (30% insertion tendinitis. 16% degenerative arthritis, 16% wrong carriage), which appeared to be independent of the activity and severity of the underlying disease. One fourth of the rheumatic complaints was caused by inflammation (21% arthritis, 5% sacroileitis). In these cases a dependency on the disease activity and the extent of the colon involvement could be found. No cause was found for 12% of the rheumatic complaints. In patients with ulcerative colitis suffering from arthritis a significant increase of disease activity (Rachmilewitz index) could be shown as compared to ulcerative colitis patients without arthritis (p < 0.02). For patients with Crohn's disease no significant correlation between arthritis and disease activity could be established. In these cases the occurrence of arthritis was associated with the colon involvement (Chi2 = 8.48). The data indicate the high frequency of rheumatic complaints in inflammatory bowel diseases due to noninflammatory causes.
